


Dreaming in Quotes

by Anonymous_Nerb



Category: Cosmere - Brandon Sanderson, Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Actor Kaladin, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Angst with a Happy Ending, Depressed Kaladin, Gen, He's just like, I am Death, Kaladin is such a theatre nerd, One Shot, POV Third Person, THE SKY IS MINE BASTARD, honor is dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29356272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anonymous_Nerb/pseuds/Anonymous_Nerb
Summary: A short modern-setting one shot based on Kaladin being such a drama kid. Not actually that crack-y.Broke: modern AU Kaladin as soldierWoke: Kaladin runs away to become and actor just so he can have a job where he says dramatic one-liners. I will never get over how delightfully hammy some of the Stormlight Archives characters are.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Dreaming in Quotes

He’d always aspired to the archetype of the Protector, but in modern society there was no room for the honorable battles he admired. Sure, being a doctor like his dad wanted could save people, but there was something missing in such a career. He wanted to inspire, to save peoples’ souls. To be that light for others, as the role of Tien’s protector has been to him on his darkest days.

He was several years short of college age when Syl first appeared to him. She was cheerful, absentminded, yet understood him better than he himself did sometimes. He told her his deepest fears, and still she stayed.

He started going to med school as Lirin suggested. It was fine, but it didn’t have any heart to it. Doctors only worked small cases, since Edgedancers and Truthwatchers were reserved for severe injuries. So he trained on the side, imagining he was a fighter for a grand cause. Syl always seemed brighter when he lived in the moment, when his mind had no thought beyond protect.

When Tien died, he stopped. He knew his depression was bad, but the knowledge that he was not there for Tien crushed him. Those few months of misery were a blur, afterward. Syl told him that his neglect of his goal to protect hurt her, too. He was horrified that he caused harm to another, on top of Tien. He vowed to do better.

He started soul searching, questioning what career could make him feel alive without threatening to crush him with every failure. He remembered those dreams of glorious battles fought in defense of peoples’ lives, of showing that inner light he so desperately wanted. He formed Syl into a spear and moved as he had trained to those earlier years, in a graceful dance. He decided.

As an actor, Kaladin could finally unleash the emotions he felt so strongly. He could ham it up, be as dramatic as he wanted, and it was just another part of his character. He could feel the rush of fighting to protect, without the fear of failure plaguing him. It was wonderful. He fell in love with the freedom he had craved for all his life. There were friends all around him, coworkers and that obnoxious tailor who helped him when he slipped up. And, of course, Syl was there by his side. 

Kaladin smiled.


End file.
